A coalition of groups representing students, faculty, consumer advocates and admission and enrollment officers has formed to oppose the proposed elimination of rules that safeguard federal student loans and other student aid programs.  The coalition, called "Keep Integrity" and which includes the AFT, will begin its campaign March 1.

The group's first newspaper advertisement documents scams perpetrated by career and correspondence schools before the current protections were incorporated into federal law in 1992.  The ad also cites recent scandals in the for-profit school sector, such as the record $9.8 million fine levied by the U.S. Department of Education against one large institution and the raid by the FBI of 10 campuses operated by another corporation during an investigation of falsified grades and attendance figures.  The coalition's ad concludes by appealing to Congress to keep the current safeguards in place. A copy of the ad is posted at http://www.aacrao.org/federal_relations/financial_aid.pdf

Keep Integrity is scheduled to run its first advertisements in Roll Call, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hill, Community College Week and insidehighered.com, among other publications.  The ads are timed to appear on March 1, when the House Committee on Education and the Workforce holds a hearing on a proposal by the committee's Republic leaders to lift existing rules and allow the for-profit industry increased access to federal higher education funding.

A recent report on the CBS "60 Minutes" program highlighted incidents of alleged fraud against students by the for-profit industry.  To read a transcript of the Jan. 31 program, "For-Profit College: Costly Lesson," click here.

"We were troubled that the committee's leaders would introduce legislation to eliminate federal safeguards on student loans and other student aid programs the same week that a network program exposes widespread abuses," said AFT vice president William Scheuerman, who is also president of the faculty union at the State University of New York system. The AFT represents more college and university faculty than any other union, with 150,000 higher education members.

Keep Integrity and other higher education groups have begun talking to members of Congress about the problems that would be created if safeguards were removed.  The National Association for College Admission Counseling, NACAC, which represents 20,000 admissions officers and high school counselors, is coordinating visits by its members to more than 300 members of the House and Senate on Feb. 28 and March 1.  Other coalition partners have set up letter-writing campaigns. [Jamie Horwitz/AFT public affairs]

February 28, 2005